DESCANTS

Noun

descants

plural of descant

Verb

descants

Third-person singular simple present indicative form of descant

Source: Wiktionary


DESCANT

Des"cant, n. Etym: [OF. descant, deschant, F. déchant, discant, LL. discantus, fr. L. dis + cantus singing, melody, fr. canere to sing. See Chant, and cf. Descant, v. i., Discant.]

1. (Mus.) (a) Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song. (b) The upper voice in part music. (c) The canto, cantus, or soprano voice; the treble. Grove. Twenty doctors expound one text twenty ways, as children make descant upon plain song. Tyndale. She [the nightingale] all night long her amorous descant sung. Milton.

Note: The term has also been used synonymously with counterpoint, or polyphony, which developed out of the French déchant, of the 12th century.

2. A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments. Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant! De Quincey.

Des*cant", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descanted; p. pr. & vb. n. Descanting.] Etym: [From descant; n.; or directly fr. OF. descanter, deschanter; L. dis- + cantare to sing.]

1. To sing a variation or accomplishment.

2. To comment freely; to discourse with fullness and particularity; to discourse at large. A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions. Addison.

DESCANT

Des"cant, n. Etym: [OF. descant, deschant, F. déchant, discant, LL. discantus, fr. L. dis + cantus singing, melody, fr. canere to sing. See Chant, and cf. Descant, v. i., Discant.]

1. (Mus.) (a) Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song. (b) The upper voice in part music. (c) The canto, cantus, or soprano voice; the treble. Grove. Twenty doctors expound one text twenty ways, as children make descant upon plain song. Tyndale. She [the nightingale] all night long her amorous descant sung. Milton.

Note: The term has also been used synonymously with counterpoint, or polyphony, which developed out of the French déchant, of the 12th century.

2. A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments. Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant! De Quincey.

Des*cant", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descanted; p. pr. & vb. n. Descanting.] Etym: [From descant; n.; or directly fr. OF. descanter, deschanter; L. dis- + cantare to sing.]

1. To sing a variation or accomplishment.

2. To comment freely; to discourse with fullness and particularity; to discourse at large. A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions. Addison.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

12 February 2025

MEGACOLON

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The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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